Leaf Kostka delivers on guru's forecast

Ajax native and Oshawa resident 'flying under the radar' with NHL squad

Leafs practice at the Air Canada Centre

David Cooper / Torstar

TORONTO -- Toronto Maple Leafs Mike Kostka (53) skated during the Leafs practice at the Air Canada Centre Jan. 17. The 27-year-old Oshawa resident and Ajax native is playing a regular shift for the Leafs after years of trying to latch on with an NHL team. January 2013

Oshawa's Mike Kostka a Calder Cup champion

John Wright / Courtesy of Norfolk

TORONTO -- Oshawa native Mike Kostka hoisted the Calder Cup after helping the Norfolk Admirals win the American Hockey League championship over the Toronto Marlies. June 13, 2012

It was more than five years ago that Jari Byrski, the renowned hockey skills coach to a bevy of NHL stars, was putting together a brochure for his clinics.

He wanted the pamphlet to include a group photo of prize pupils, Steven Stamkos standing shoulder to shoulder with fellow big-name clients like Jason Spezza and Rick Nash et al. But Byrski also hand-picked a lesser-known pro prospect to stand among the high-profile studs. Minor-leaguer Mike Kostka had been under Byrski's tutelage for most of a decade. The coach insisted Kostka's image be photoshopped into the brochure despite considerable inconvenience to the photographer.

"I remember (the photographer) was complaining to me, 'Who is this Mike Kostka guy? He's not even an NHL player. You have all these stars in here, '" Byrski said. "And I remember when the brochure came out, people said, 'Why is this guy in the picture? Who is this Kostka?'"

Byrski is not hearing that same question this winter.

I'll never forget all those questions, 'Who is thi

Half a decade later and 18 games into the truncated season, the late-blooming Kostka has carved out a place for himself on the Maple Leafs backline after more than 300 games in the minors. A 27-year-old NHL rookie, he's being used like a veteran horse, averaging some 23 minutes a game.

Only Dion Phaneuf, the Toronto captain, has logged more minutes as a Leafs defenceman this season. While more established pros like John-Michael Liles and Mike Komisarek have been sent to the pressbox as healthy scratches, Kostka, who grew up in Ajax, has found himself a regular on Toronto's power play and penalty kill.

"When you have young players like that, the less you notice them, usually the more efficient their game is, " Carlyle said Friday. "When you don't notice him, it's because he isn't making any glaring mistakes. He's making the safe play. He's moving the puck effectively. All those things are allowing him to maintain his position in our lineup."

Flying under the radar, of course, isn't exactly a great route to professional advancement. And perhaps that explains why, in the days before the NHL lockout ended in January, Kostka was slogging through his fifth straight season in the American Hockey League, his first as a member of the Toronto Marlies since signing a one-year deal as a free agent last summer.

"It's kind of a catch-22. Maybe (going unnoticed) has been part of what's kept me (in the NHL so far this season). But when you're trying to make it, you want to be noticed, " Kostka said with a laugh.

Mark Fraser, the Leafs defenceman who played with Kostka on the Marlies earlier this season, said on-ice anonymity can be a virtue.

"As a defenceman, to play a game unnoticed ... it's a credit to a guy who's being matched against some big lines, some big responsibility, " Fraser said. "Kostka has had an opportunity to do that, and he's done it well."

He has done it so well that there've already been suggestions that the Leafs should lock him up on a lengthy deal before season's end. Kostka, who is earning a pro-rated take of a $600,000 NHL salary this season, will be an unrestricted free agent come July. After so many years spent aspiring to the world's best league, it'll be his best chance yet at earning long-term millions.

Still, Kostka's agent, Chicago-based Justin Duberman, said he and his client are in no hurry to talk turkey.

"I don't want anything to disrupt that path that he's on, " Duberman said. "Mike's just playing. And when that time comes, it comes. (A contract is) not something Mike and I have discussed at this point. And it's not something the team and I have talked about."

What's been the key to the current success? Kostka said he "definitely wouldn't be (in the NHL)" without Byrski's help, or that of his parents, Chris and Susan; his dad played and coached at York University before passing on a love for the game to his son.

Certainly timing has been a factor. As many veteran NHLers sat idle during the labour stoppage, Kostka, coming off a short off-season in the wake a Calder Cup championship run with Norfolk, logged heavy minutes for the Marlies. While more established players searched for their legs when the NHL season began Jan. 19, Kostka was in mid-season form.

"The lockout did a lot of good for Mike Kostka, " said Duberman. "(Coach) Dallas Eakins is doing something special with the Marlies."

Byrski said he saw something special in the blond defenceman at a young age. When other skaters would fawn over the NHL stars in his clinics, the coach remembered Kostka as respectful but unfazed.

"I saw that determination, that self-assurance, in him. And I saw some skills. But there's a lot of kids, you see them at age 16 or 17, and they have great hands and so many tools in the toolbox, and some of them disappear along the way, " Byrski said. "Sometimes you see guys like Mike who take a long road -- I think it's something inside their heart. It's internal motivation and passion and belief. He had that belief."

Byrski, for his part, said he still has the old brochure, and with it a memory that still makes him smile.

"I'll never forget all those questions, 'Who is this guy? Who is this guy Kostka?' And I would say, 'He's going to make it. You will see, '" Byrski said. "Now they come in and they look at the photo and they say, 'There he is. There he is.'"